Moderator Bio -

Pam Van Zyl York has worked in public health in Minnesota for more than 40 years with local and state public health and held faculty positions in public health and nutrition science at the University of Minnesota and St. Catherine University. She has worked with programs across the lifespan including health promotion and chronic disease management. She initiated Minnesota participation in the CDC Pediatric and Prenatal Nutrition Surveillance Program in Minnesota. Over her career, she has worked with various audiences to help them sort out the differences between health and nutrition information and misinformation including working with Stan Turner on his radio program on KLBB to discuss current health issues and trends and providing technical expertise to Twin Cities Public Television on health information programing.

Pam holds a Master in Public Health and PhD in Human Nutrition from the University of Minnesota. She is a Registered Dietition and Licensed Nutritionist. She worked on behalf of the Minnesota Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics advocating for state legislative issues related to health care reform and coordinated the association’s efforts to achieve state licensure for Dietitians and Nutritionists. She has served on several Boards of Directors for non-profit organizations and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Stevens Square Foundation.

Panelist Bios -

Marna Canterbury brings decades of experience in community health improvement, nonprofit leadership, building community partnerships to her role as Vice President of Community Health and Partnership for HealthPartners. Marna’s previous experience has included leadership and development of health improvement efforts for health plans, clinics, nonprofits, schools, hunger relief organization, and chronic disease prevention. Marna currently provides senior leadership for the development, implementation and evaluation of HealthPartners community health and nutrition programs including PowerUp, Make It OK, Teen Leadership Council and Little Moments Count. She also provides leadership for HealthPartners Community Health Needs Assessment, strategies, and plans. Marna works in partnership with multiple community stakeholders, serving on collaboratives and multiple nonprofit boards including The Food Group, Valley Community Center and Valley Outreach. She is a co-founder and leadership team member of SuperShelf, transforming Minnesota food shelves to provide good food for all.

Marna received her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and biology from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and completed her training as a Registered Dietitian at the University of Iowa. She received her Master’s in Community Health from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Andrew Doherty is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from Iowa State University and an MBA from the University of Minnesota. His previous work experience includes five years at the University of Minnesota - Extension teaching SNAP-Ed classes and managing nutrition education grants, working to expand access to practical, evidence-based nutrition education for underserved communities. Additionally, Andrew has nearly a decade of experience leading adaptive nutrition and cooking classes for individuals with Down syndrome at Gigi’s Playhouse in St. Louis Park. His food and nutrition philosophy is to make nutrition education and healthy food choices accessible, practical, and engaging for individuals of all abilities. Andrew currently lives in Golden Valley with his wife, Lauren, and enjoys cooking, biking, and exploring the Twin Cities.

Lisa Harnack is a public health nutrition expert who carries out research to improve the scientific evidence on which nutrition policies, programs, and practice are based. Examples of her work include leading the first experimental trial evaluating whether putting calorie information on restaurant menus leads to the purchase and consumption of lower calorie meals. Findings from this study have been referenced in more than 30 domestic and international policy-related documents and reports. Most notably, her research was referenced in the code of regulation for calorie labeling on restaurant menus issued by the FDA.

More recently, Dr. Harnack carried out the first experimental trials evaluating food purchase restrictions on sugary foods as a strategy for reshaping the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to improve family nutrition. These findings are informing ongoing policy discussions related to this potential program change. Another recent example is a paper she authored reporting findings from a study commissioned by the CDC to identify sources of sodium in the American diet. The study found that more than two-thirds (71%) of the sodium in the diet comes from salt and other sodium-containing compounds added to food during commercial processing. This finding has regulatory implications, as the FDA has stated it may remove salt from the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list if voluntary efforts by food manufacturers to lower the sodium content of commercial foods are ineffective.

In addition to her research, she directs the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center (NCC). This center developed, maintains, and supports two widely used dietary assessment tools: the Nutrition Data System for Research (NDSR) and the NCC Food and Nutrient Database. NDSR supports research at over 100 institutions, including most major research universities that conduct nutrition research and government agencies such as the NIH and NASA. NCC’s Food and Nutrient Database is licensed for use in providing nutrient data for food frequency questionnaires (including the widely used NIH Diet History Questionnaire) and consumer-oriented diet tracking apps.

Panelist Bios -

Erica Barnes is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Rare Disease Advisory Council, an executive branch state agency. Erica graduated from the University of Minnesota with a master's in communication disorders and was a speech-language pathologist prior to shifting her work to improving health systems for the rare disease community. She has over a decade of advocacy and non-profit leadership experience, having co-founded with her husband Chloe's Fight Rare Disease Foundation following the death of her daughter. Erica has a number of committee roles related to rare diseases. She chairs the NIH funded Global Leukodystrophy Initiative Clinical Trials Network patient advocacy consortium, is a member of the Minnesota Prescription Drug Affordability Board, participates in a number of taskforces in the Minnesota Department of Health, and holds membership in the Center for Orphan Drug Research at the University of Minnesota.

Jennell Bilek is an equity partner with the downtown Minneapolis based law firm, Carlson Caspers, where she advises clients on a wide range of legal and regulatory matters.

Jennell’s litigation experience includes pre-filing investigations, motion practice, Markman hearings, all aspects of fact and expert discovery, trials, appeals to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and Inter Partes reviews before the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Jennell’s regulatory counseling practice focuses on issues facing drug, biological, and nutraceutical clients and wholesale distributors from procurement, navigating the drug supply chain, labeling claims, obtaining approvals, product lifecycle management, and patent/exclusivity assessments. She also advises clients on complying with federal and state drug and pharmacy laws and regulations. Her industry experience includes work as a  community pharmacist, deputy director of the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, consultant to large employers when implementing pharmacy benefit manager driven cost controls, and assisting a pharmaceutical market expert with disputes that concerned anti-kickback and misbranding statutes, False Claims Act, and misappropriation of trade secrets.

Amanda Brummel, PharmD, BCACP serves as the Vice President of Clinical Ambulatory Pharmacy Services. Dr. Brummel has been employed by Fairview Pharmacy Services, and now Fairview Pharmacy Solutions, since 1999 when she graduated from the University of Minnesota. While at Fairview, she has built and practiced Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM) as a part of Fairview’s Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Program in multiple clinic locations. Dr. Brummel has responsibility for the MTM Program, the Anticoagulation Program, the Outcomes department and the clinical development and integration of ambulatory pharmacy services in the Fairview Network including transitions of care and quality measurement. She works closely with the Fairview Network in our population health approach and new payer product development. Dr. Brummel is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota. She has published multiple articles on MTM and pharmacy’s role in the care team.

Moderator Bio -

Dave Golden started working for the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology in 1984 where he also discovered a love of Public Health. He was part of the Minnesota Health Health Project from 1984-1989 developing and implementing strategies to reduce cardiovascular disease in one of three cities selected as intervention sites. As the Heart Health Project intervention period ended, he moved to Boynton Health on the University of Minnesota campus and worked as a health educator. In 1998, Dave became Director of Public Health and Communications. He was an active member of APHA, MPHA (Past President), American College Health Association and North American College Health Association. He retired from the University of Minnesota after 38 action packed, fun filled years of working with some of the most wonderful people one could ever hope to have as colleagues and friends. If it's not fun, it's not Public Health!

Panelist Bios - 

Sheyanga Beecher began her career as a public health nurse in Baltimore, Maryland providing care for mothers recovering from substance use and their children. She received her Masters of Science in Nursing from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. As a nurse practitioner, Ms. Beecher has lived and worked internationally in Haiti, Ethiopia, South Africa and Tanzania with a focus in maternal child health, community health and health system strengthening. In 2012, she began working at Hennepin Healthcare. Currently, Ms. Beecher cares for children with acute illnesses and serves as the Medical Director for the Mobile Health program which began in May of 2020. The Mobile Health program helps increase access to care to pediatric primary care and post-partum care for mothers and their and newborns. In recognition of her work with the Pediatric Mobile Health program, Ms. Beecher has won the Hennepin Healthcare Pandemic Preparedness Award, the BlueCross Blue Shield Trail Blazer Award, the Commissioner’s Circle of Excellence Awards from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Woman’s Health Leadership Trust for Innovation and the MDH/CDC Immunization Champion Award. Ms. Beecher co-leads the Hennepin Healthcare Department of Pediatrics Health Equity Work Group, sat on the Hennepin Healthcare Board Mission Effectiveness Committee, and is a member of the Hennepin County PICA/HeadStart Board. 

Elise Holmes is a Program Manager at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. She provides organizational and technical support across multiple projects and serves as a producer and researcher for the Osterholm Update and Superbugs and You podcasts. Ms. Holmes previously worked at the Minnesota Department as well as Hennepin County, leading projects related to child and family health and wellbeing. With a background in global maternal and child health, food security, and emergency preparedness, Ms. Holmes has also provided consulting and program evaluation support for projects in the U.S., Latin America, and West Africa. Ms. Holmes holds a Master's of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a BS in Human Nutrition from the University of Illinois. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences, focused on infectious disease risks for pregnant individuals and newborns. In addition to her role at CIDRAP, Ms. Holmes also supports the University of Minnesota’s Health Emergency Response Office and Medical Reserve Corps program.